Terra Diver
Terra Diver, known in japan as Soukyugurentai (蒼穹紅蓮隊, Azure Sky Red Lotus Corps) is a Shoot 'em Up game developed by Raizing and originally released in 1996 for the Sega Titan (STV) Arcade platform. It was ported to the Sega Saturn in 1996 by Electronic Arts and to the PlayStation in 1997 by Data East. Gameplay Terra Diver is a vertically scrolling shoot 'em up which utilizes a horizontally-oriented monitor, unlike other Raizing shooters which use a vertically-oriented one. The first button is used for shooting. By quickly tapping it your ship will fire the main weapon, a fast-firing forward gun which can be upgraded by picking up power up icons. By holding the button you activate the NALS ("Non-blind-spot All-range Laser System"), which creates a three-dimensional grid either around or in front of your ship, depending on it's format. As long as the button is held all enemies that pass through the grid will be locked on up to a certain limit, so when you release the button your ship will fire lasers or plasma which will home onto all locked targets. The NALS can target enemies both on the foreground and background, but you become unable to shoot while it's active. The second button is used for bombs. Pressing it will consmue one bomb in your stock, creating a powerful explosion in front of your ship. If the NALS is active when you use a bomb it will instead create smaller cluster explosions onto the targeted enemies. By pressing the third button you change between the two NALS modes of your ship. Ports Terra Diver was originally ported to the Sega Saturn in 1996 by Electronic Arts in Japan only. This is a Arcade perfect port, given that the Sega Titan Arcade board the game originally ran in was a modified Saturn. this version adds the usual options to change the game's difficulty and number of lives and bombs, as well as a practice mode and gallery. The game would later be ported to the Sony PlayStation in 1997 by Data East, also only in Japan. Titled Soukyugurentai Oubushutsugeki (蒼穹紅蓮隊　黄武出撃, Azure Sky Red Lotus Corps: Golden Soldier Sortie), this version adds a new ship and final stage which are exclusive to this version, a female narrator as well as a new CGI opening, cutscenes between the stages and endings. Story After exhausting the Earth’s resources, particularly fossil fuel, innumerable trade companies team up with NASA and begin initiating space programs dedicated to finding resources outside the planet Earth. Mining facilities are established in different areas outside of Earth, particularly on large asteroids near the Moon and most especially on Mars. Various resources are found from these areas and distributed to Earth which aid in the world economy. The largest company that is established from this is the Jin-Sei (Exhausting Star) Corporation set in Japan which is worth 1 trillion in New Yen investments, founded by the Miama family. However, after years of space resource distribution, the separate companies started initiating attacks that would dominate other company’s resources. The strongest of these attacks started on Martian colonies established by the second largest company on Earth, Eight Luck Interstellar Development Inc., which banded with smaller companies across Earth including ones in China, England, and America. Eight Luck planned on claiming Mars for its own so as to monopolize on the outsourcing of minerals as well as developing terraformed areas. In response to these attacks, the Jin-Sei formed a union with the JDF and began working on a space fighter program organized by Defensive Section 2 of the JDF known as the Soukyugurentai (SOQ for short), which utilized a unique laser technology fighting system known as NALS (Non-blind spot All range Laser System) in combat. The threat of eco-terrorism was on the rise as out-spoken ecosystem protectionism groups opposed the company's outsourcing of materials; these were used as subsequent cover-up stories to hide the company war waging between Jin-Sei and Eight Luck from public awareness. Made up of the best fighters adapted to this combat system as well as innumerable stamina strengthening tests for space travel, the SOQ are sent in to defend company territory from rival companies on Earth and space at all costs. Characters and Ships Stages Gallery SOQSaturnCover.jpg|Saturn cover SOQPSXCover.jpg|PlayStation cover Sokyu_Gurentai_Obushutsugeki_Flyer_01.jpg|PSX version flyer External Links * Official Site * PSX version page (web archived) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAAWI8mbzUY ♪ SCROLL FOR THE S.O.Q.] Category:Games